How junk food affects the military

A candy bar on Monday. An ice-cream sandwich on Tuesday. A bag of chips on Wednesday.

For kids who buy junk food at school every day, the calories can add up.

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When you look at the problem nationally, the figure is staggering.

Students consume almost 400 billion calories of junk food sold at school each year, according to the latest research by the Department of Agriculture. That’s the equivalent of nearly 2 billion candy bars, weighing almost 90 thousand tons — enough candy bars to circle the Earth more than six times.

Obesity rates among children have dramatically increased in recent decades. Being overweight or obese has now become the leading medical reason why young adults cannot enlist in the military. The Defense Department estimates that 1 in 4 young adults is too overweight to enlist.

When weight problems are combined with other disqualifying factors, like failing to finish high school or being convicted of a serious crime, an estimated 75 percent of Americans age 17 to 24 are not able to join the military.

Parents, of course, have the primary responsibility to ensure that their children eat right and exercise. But kids consume as much as half their calories during the school day. When parents send their children off with a brown bag or lunch money, they shouldn’t have to worry about being undermined by junk food for sale at school. It is no surprise that the Institute of Medicine recently called on schools to be a national focus in reversing the childhood obesity epidemic.

That’s why retired generals and admirals like myself are calling on our leaders in Washington to help reduce the junk food sold in schools. Too many schools still have vending machines and other venues where children can routinely buy candy, potato chips, cookies and sugar-sweetened fruit juices or sports drinks.